Automated Car Washes

CliffyBiro

CliffyBiro

CliffyBiro

Caporegime
Joined
1 Mar 2008
Posts
26,303
Opinions on these?

May give mine a run through one of those ARC washes that has just turned up outside the town.

a lot of people say they can scratch paintwork quite badly though?
 
The machines can cause quite bad bruising on your paintwork, it's best to stay away from those things if you want hologram/swirl free paintwork.
 
I'd take the Volvo through one, assuming I could be arsed to wash it at all (which I cant)
The Cefiro and 200SX would be hand wash only.
 
Good if your car is merely a tool for getting from A to B in, and don't particularly care about it.

If you care about it then avoid like the plague.
 
Anything automated is best avoided if you like your paint.
 
I don't think modern ones scratch up your paint like everyone says they do.

I used to use them all the time because I am lazy. Now I have an MX-5 and have to wash it myself. Good thing it's so small.
 
The new fangled arc ones dont scratch as they dont use the same rotating brushes as the older ones.

5th gear recently did a test about which caused the most damage - hand wash, car wash or jet wash.

The worst was hand wash, then jet wash and the least damage was the car wash. The view that they damage paint is outdated, and its only a saxo anyway :p
 
I can't use one because my radio aerial has rust-welded into the upright position. It would probably get snapped off by an automated washer. The sainsbury's near me sometimes has people in the car park who you can pay a fiver to to clean your car, so I use them. I'm too lazy to wash it myself. :p
 
Automated ones ime give a result thats medicore. It's ruin your paint, and not clean particulary well. But will look cleaner than a dirty car. But if you don't care then great
!
 
There's a valeter that comes around to our office every few days - £20 for a full wash/wax/polish and interior valet :cool:
 
We've got this brand new automated one near me. Guys pre-wash it, then it drags you through. Does everything, under car, tyre dressing, blow dry, shammies at the end. Its brilliant. My white paint is quite matt so it may just be hiding it but honestly paint work looks totally fine and I've been using this for some time now.
 
I use it for the Beastly Micra as the paintwork is nothing special and it's 13 years old, wouldn't on my next car though :)
 
EvilDreams said:
I don't think modern ones scratch up your paint like everyone says they do.
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They can do. If the car in front of you has a chunk of grit on it that gets stuck to the bristles/rollers then it's going to scratch every car that goes through it afterwards until the grit falls off or is removed.
 
waso_dude said:
i use it to remove all the road crap, take my car home again, properly clean it and wax, hasn't affected my body work and thats a ARC one too
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I doubt it, whats the point in doing that when you go home and wash the car anyway? I bet your paintwork isn't that great to be honest. You certainly aren't doing it any favours by sticking it in an ARC.
 
Lum said:
They can do. If the car in front of you has a chunk of grit on it that gets stuck to the bristles/rollers then it's going to scratch every car that goes through it afterwards until the grit falls off or is removed.
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This^.

The amount of dirt/grit that must be left from previous cars on the rollers/cleaning surfaces is enough to put me off. I doubt they clean/change these parts often or ever.

Taking the necessary precautions (i.e. 2 bucket method, grit guard, wash mitt and others) when hand washing your car will limit the amount of swirls/scratches and is far superior to any other method.
 
Great for my slightly scruffy e36 328i with "polished by Brillo" paintwork, to use them to clean anything you actually give a toss about, forget it!.
 
It would be more effective to give your car a quick blast with a pressure washer.
 
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